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COMMENTARY

Oct 2, 2002

Once-cool Britannia begins to boil

By Sarah Benton

WASHINGTON -- Britain split along three rift lines last week and it's hard to see where they might meet again. Perhaps only an Anglo-American attack on Iraq could unite the nation against such mind-boggling folly and terrifying, costly megalomania.

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 2, 2002

Saving the banking system

By Pascal Nguyen

The Bank of Japan announcement that it would purchase part of the stakes that banks hold in listed companies has raised question marks among investors.

EDITORIALS

Oct 1, 2002

UNESCO's second chance

Eighteen years after withdrawing in a huff, the United States is rejoining the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The move, announced by U.S. President George W. Bush in his recent U.N. speech, is a victory for the world and for Mr. Koichiro Matsuura, the Japanese diplomat...

EDITORIALS

Oct 1, 2002

A baffling Cabinet reshuffle

When Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi launched his Cabinet on April 26, 2000, he made a public pledge to the effect that he would not shuffle his Cabinet for an unjustifiable purpose. On Monday, he carried out his first Cabinet change allegedly for the purpose of accelerating structural reforms -- the...

COMMENTARY

Sep 30, 2002

China keeps its cool, and its national focus

By Tom Plate

LOS ANGELES -- When U.S. President George W. Bush won the last election, Beijing warmly congratulated the winner. This was remarkable, given his harsh campaign rhetoric, which was anti-China and pro-Taiwan. Yet, China avoided losing its cool and, as we have seen since, pretty much remained focused on...

COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK

Sep 30, 2002

Great Tokyo Air Raid was a war crime

By Hiroaki Sato

On Dec. 7, 1964, the Japanese government conferred the First Order of Merit with the Grand Cordon of the Rising Sun upon Gen. Curtis LeMay -- yes, the same general who, less than 20 years earlier, had incinerated "well over half a million Japanese civilians, perhaps nearly a million."

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 30, 2002

Give democracy a chance in postwar Iraq

By Russell Working

LIMASSOL, Cyprus -- In recent months, the Iraqi debate has played in the news like a tennis match, with observers awarding points to U.S. President George W. Bush for his U.N. speech, then to Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein for his shrewd move to admit inspectors "without conditions" -- subject, of course,...

EDITORIALS

Sep 30, 2002

Japan and China need new framework

Sunday marked the 30th anniversary of the normalization of Japan-China relations. But the citizens of both nations are not in much of a celebratory mood despite the pomp and fanfare of commemorative events. Maturity is hardly the right word to describe the state of Sino-Japanese ties. Opinion polls show...

COMMENTARY

Sep 30, 2002

Japan as a 'banana republic'?

By Hugh Cortazzi

The announcement that the governor of the Bank of Japan was considering the purchase of company shares held by Japanese banks at market prices has done nothing to reassure opinion in Britain about the state of the Japanese economy. The general view remains, to quote the Financial Times, "that price deflation...

COMMENTARY

Sep 30, 2002

A theory that doesn't work

By Takamitsu Sawa

For the market economy to function effectively, equal opportunity must be guaranteed in all sectors of society. In today's Japan, however, there is no such guarantee. For example, the opportunity for a Japanese person to become a Diet member is far from equal, because many retiring Diet members have...

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 30, 2002

Peacemaking efforts deserve applause

By George Sioris

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- International public opinion seems focused almost exclusively on the issue of Iraq these days while other important regional developments are relegated to the back burner. Among the developments that deserve greater attention are the moves toward peace in Sri Lanka.

EDITORIALS

Sep 29, 2002

Bracing for the fall

For a week now, we have officially been experiencing autumn. The nights are longer than the days, extending their dark dominion by two and a half minutes every 24 hours. The air is turning cooler. Leaves and grasses are showing hints of yellow. We've even found ourselves reaching for a sweater occasionally,...

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.

How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan

By Megha Wadhwa

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Looking ahead to Yokohama’s Green × Expo 2027

Looking ahead to Yokohama’s Green × Expo 2027

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